Taylor Swift and Blake Lively’s Famous Friendship in Jeopardy

Insiders shed light on where the longtime friends stand amid Lively’s ongoing legal battle with Justin Baldoni

Blake Lively; Taylor Swift.Credit : Dave Benett/WireImage; Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

As Lively’s legal battle against Justin Baldoni continues to heat up, multiple sources tell PEOPLE exclusively that the actress’s relationship with Swift is struggling as the singer faces a subpoena by Baldoni’s legal team.

“Their friendship has halted,” says a source close to Swift. “Taylor wants no part in this drama.”

Another insider says that Lively, 37, and Swift, 35 — whose friendship can be documented going back to 2014 — are indeed “taking some space,” but adds that they are “not no longer friends.”

In late April, a source told PEOPLE that Swift “was really hurt” after being implicated in Lively’s legal fight but that the stars were working to “put it all behind them.” According to a complaint Baldoni filed in January, Lively referred to the pop star as one of her “dragons” in an alleged text exchange.

Now, however, a source close to the legal battle says the subpoena — which was served on May 8 — has “fractured” the “fragile peace” between Lively and Swift, who is godmother to the actress’ four kids with her husband, Ryan Reynolds, 48.

Justin Baldoni, Blake Lively, Ryan Reynolds and Taylor Swift.John Nacion/Variety via Getty; Taylor Hill/FilmMagic; Kevin Mazur/Getty; Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

Multiple sources also tell PEOPLE that Lively’s friendship with another longtime pal, Gigi Hadid, has cooled in recent months.

“Gigi feels terrible that her close friend is being pulled into the legal drama,” says a Hadid source. Adds another friend of the model, 30: “Gigi is closer to Taylor and has definitely taken her side in this whole drama. Gigi doesn’t want to get involved in this whole ordeal, but she is closer to Taylor and has distanced herself from Blake although she still considers her a friend.”

Lively sued her It Ends With Us costar and director in December, alleging sexual harassment and retaliation, which he denies. Baldoni countersued for $400 million, accusing Lively and Reynolds of extortion and defamation, a legal action their lawyers have called “vengeful” and “meritless.”

Since coming forward with her lawsuit claims, several of Lively’s famous friends have spoken out in support of her, including her Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants costars America Ferrera, Alexis Bledel and Amber Tamblyn, who put out a joint statement on Instagram in December 2024. Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci showed up for Lively at her movie premiere in April, and Lively was spotted out with former costar Salma Hayek in May.

Swift, however, has been notably silent about Lively’s It Ends With Us legal drama. Then, in a May 9 statement slamming the recent subpoena, the singer’s rep said that Swift “did not even see It Ends With Us until weeks after its public release.”

In a May 14 letter to the judge and subsequent affidavit — which have both since been struck from the docket by the judge who deemed them “improper” — Baldoni’s lawyer Bryan Freedman claimed to have been told by an anonymous source that Lively, via her lawyer, pressured Swift to issue a statement of support on social media after Lively was not present at the 2025 Super Bowl in February.

Lively’s lawyer, Mike Gottlieb, vehemently denied the “so-called allegations,” calling them “cowardly sourced to supposed anonymous sources, and completely untethered from reality.”

After the judge struck the letter and affidavit, a rep for Lively also spoke out: “It took the court less than 24 hours to see through Mr. Freedman’s irrelevant, improper and inflammatory accusations, strike them, remove them from the court and warn Mr. Freedman that further misconduct may be met with sanctions.”

Blake Lively and Taylor Swift on Sept. 30, 2023.Gotham/GC Images

Prior to the lawsuits, when Lively was asked about Swift’s involvement in the project during an August 2024 interview on CBS Mornings, she said the singer “was with me throughout this whole process. So I think that, for better or worse, she, you know, experienced the whole thing with me.”

Freedman said in a previous statement that Lively “was the one who brought her high-profile friends into this situation without concern for their own personal or public backlash. As the truth shows, she used her ‘dragons’ to manipulate Justin at every turn.”

While appearing as a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers on May 1, Lively briefly mentioned having an “intense year” that has “been full of the highest highs and the lowest lows of my life.”

The trial, at which Lively and Baldoni are both expected to take the stand and testify, is currently scheduled for March 2026.